(Daily Signal)—The Congressional Black Caucus, which frequently complains that Congress is silencing black voices, has denied the application of four congressional black voices.
The four black members of Congress include Reps. Burgess Owens, R-Utah; Wesley Hunt, R-Texas; Byron Donalds, R-Fla.; and John James, R-Mich.
“Unfortunately, for the Left, their priorities are power and profit” Owens told the Daily Signal.
Owens and Donalds pushed to rename the Capitol’s press gallery after civil rights icon Frederick Douglass, a Republican, but caucus members refused to co-sponsor the resolution.
“Democrats know Douglass was a Republican,” Owens said. “They don’t stand up for the things that really should make a difference. They stand up for everything the Democratic Party wants, which means the black community is not always in a good place.”
Owens, who sits on the House’s Education and Workforce Committee, said the Congressional Black Caucus will advocate against the things that could strengthen the black community, such as education.
“That means they are going to vote against school choice,” he said. “Our kids are going down so fast, so far because they’re not getting the right education. … The Black Caucus doesn’t want [school choice] to happen because the Democratic Party doesn’t want that to happen.”
Owens said he grew up in the 1960s deep South, where his community “was doing well” and people believed in faith, family, and the free market. However, he added, the Left doesn’t value those ideals today.
“Marxists and socialists hate faith, family, and free market education because that sense of independence takes away their power and ability to make profit,” he said. “When they make profit on people’s misery, that’s a big business.”
Owens added, “They allow people not to feel good about themselves, feel hopeless, feel desperate, then they depend on you. … And when people have that kind of mindset, and they have no concept of what it is to believe in God or have empathy, they’ll do everything selfishly.”
The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing legislation asking young black athletes to avoid playing college sports for universities in the South, as a method of retaliating against states that redrew congressional maps. Owens, who was the third black athlete to receive a football scholarship from the University of Miami, criticized the effort, saying it’s a move by “black elitists” who want to “take the dreams of young black people away so that they can keep theirs.”
The caucus has received criticism for other decisions, including denying membership to Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., a white congressman who nevertheless represents the largest black community in Tennessee.
Other black conservative members of Congress, such as Donalds and Hunt, claim they were shunned by the caucus because they don’t approve of race-based politics.
“Democrats always use race [as a] political crutch,” Donalds said in an interview with the Daily Signal. “Their ideas aren’t logical, so what they try to do is use the emotions tied to the history of our country and weaponize those emotions for political gain. It’s sick.”
“I think that’s why you’re seeing more and more people walk away from the Democratic Party,” he added.
The Congressional Black Caucus did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.
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